


448276

by leovaldez



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Book 1: The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus), Canon Compliant, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, Wilderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 05:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20325898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leovaldez/pseuds/leovaldez
Summary: Leo Valdez has had a broken timer for months but now, in the middle of literally nowhere, it starts clicking down.





	448276

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be warm-up writing whose sole purpose was to make me like writing again and i never had any intention on publishing... this was never meant to be a soulmate au let alone this specific type...
> 
> and yet. here we are.

_Ow._ Leo’s arm jumped up, and he rubbed his wrist as he glanced around. Something shocked him right on a nerve that made him tense and shudder. Nothing on the bus looked suspicious enough to have sent him the bolt of electricity, so Leo rolled his eyes and chalked it up to his stupid body being… well, _stupid._

Sketched on the inside of his wrist were the bold numbers 01:00. Had he been anyone else, he would’ve jumped at the chance to meet his soulmate. But nah, Leo Valdez knew better. Somehow out of the very slim chances of ending up with a broken timer (about 1 in a million, he looked it up because he thought he was dying but really he’s just a fuck-up) Leo was the lucky guy to have one. Go team.

It hadn’t always been broken. There was a time where he remembered seeing what was the equivalent to 448276 minutes. Then he walked into Wilderness, a place that has become his own special little prison, and his timer did a cutesy little _oops!_ The very second his dirty sneaker passed those giant fences, his wrist spasmed and went to 00:00. As if going to Wilderness hadn’t already made his life worse, the estate had managed to steal approximately 10 months, 7 days, 3 hours, and 16 minutes away from Leo and his potential soulmate.

The nurse looked at it for about seven seconds, shrugged, and handed Leo two pamphlets: _So I’m Never Going to Meet My Soulmate and Other Complications_ and _I’m A Teenager and the World Hates Me!_

For the past few months, his wrist flicked between 00:00 and 00:01 as if his soulmate was going to jump right out and go _Surprise! I’ve been here all along!_ At this point, if his soulmate _was_ going to come out, Leo wouldn’t care because someone who could give his body and mind so much stress probably wasn’t worth it anyway.

So that was why Leo took the shock as another body glitch and ignored the timer reading 00:58-

Wait. Hadn’t that been a 01:00? Leo violently shook out his hand and stared again, pressing his face against skin. Too close. But now it said 00:52.

00:51.

00:50.

00:49.

Wow. It was really counting down this time. His clock had never been broken like _this_. If it was counting down from his original timing that would’ve been wrong as well- he still had a good 6 months left.

He looked around him on the bus. In front of him was an empty seat. Next to him was a boy who smelled like Axe and was slumped over against the window. Behind Leo’s seat were his best friends, Jason and Piper who, as if to fulfill the requirements for the _Grossest Couple Award_, were holding hands even in their sleep. Second glance (00:42) told Leo that Piper wasn’t asleep but just weird and into PDA with a comatose Jason. She had been looking out the window but glanced up when catching Leo staring so intensely at her.

“Hey,” Piper said. Beside her, Jason began to stir. “What-”

“Nothing,” Leo just as quickly popped back down anyway because those two were Gross with a capital G. Leo’s wrist was shocked again, and his stomach turned.

Even though his arm might’ve said 00:30, that couldn’t possibly have made sense because he _knew_ everyone on the bus. From annoying yet hot Isabel to that one kid who got in for huffing paint, Leo had met all these people before.

He looked out the window, drumming his fingers against his thigh. Nothing but desert, sand, and more rocks because they were on a field trip to The Middle of Nowhere, USA. How crazy would it be if his soulmate was like a _salamander_ or something? Totally his luck, but at least Leo liked reptiles.

00:20. Coach Hedge stood up to yell something at them. Leo flicked a rubber band at the guy in the other seat. The kid growled at Leo and shot him a middle finger. Behind Leo, Jason asked a stupid question.

“Can he talk to us that way?” O0:13.

The sound of jackets sliding against each other made Leo perk up. “Always does. This is the Wilderness School. ‘Where kids are the animals’.”

Leo snorted. His wrist was practically burning now. Even though he knew there was something wrong, the rest of his body didn’t get the memo because everything screamed for him to jump up and meet the soulmate that was nearby. Where was that salamander hiding anyway, Leo joked to himself.

“This is some kind of mistake.” Leo had to stop his romantic reptile thoughts because _hey_\- Jason being stupid here might actually be more interesting. 00:02. Maybe he’ll encounter the bug of his life someday again. “I’m not supposed to be here.”

Okay, now Leo _had_ to jump in, and he did so much more eagerly than he might’ve normally under different circumstances. The _current_ circumstances being his wrist was essentially having a seizure while endorphins rushed to his brain. All that joy and anticipation must’ve been evident in his face as he grinned at Jason full-force and said “Yeah, right, Jason. We’ve all been framed! I didn’t run away six times. Piper didn’t steal that BMW.”

He had to grab the back of the chair to stop from launching through the air and barrelling straight into the two. His fingers drummed against the leather seat as if excited by the sheer notion of messing with Jason and for a second, Leo could feel his entire body quake. But it was gone in an instant and Jason met his eyes.

Weird. Where his eyes always that blue? Did Jason normally look so confused? So flustered? So _Jason?_ Leo felt almost as confused as Jason looked.

“I didn’t steal that car, Leo!”

Leo blinked. What? Oh _yeah._ Messing with the sudden amnesiac. He rolled his eyes at Piper. “Oh, I forgot Piper. What was your story? You ‘talked’ the dealer into lending it to you?” He raised his eyebrows at Jason, only to find the guy staring back at him.

Funny. Leo’s probably ogled Jason a bunch too over the past few months. His heart jumped Nd his hand clenched the seat.

“_Anyway_,” Leo said when the staring got a little too personal for him. “I hope you’ve got your worksheet, ’cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Someone draw on my face again?”

“I don’t know you,” Jason said slowly but said like it was a question he wasn’t sure he asked nor knew the answer to.

Leo felt uneasy but grinned nonetheless. “Sure. I’m not your best friend, I’m his evil clone.”

“Leo Valdez!” Coach Hedge demanded, sending Leo to sit forward again. Leo shot back something about not hearing him and Coach begrudgingly help up his microphone for all to hear. What should’ve been obnoxiously loud threats were instead various pig oinks and sheep baas.

“VALDEZ!” Coach Hedge bellowed through the mic in a breathy Darth Vader voice. Leo laughed along with the rest of the bus while rubbing his wrist.

As the snickering gave way to the sound of the bus turning into the parking lot of their Boring Field Trip, along with jackets being zipped up, Leo examined his arm.

Even weirder than before- gone was the numbers which were replaced with clear skin as if the timer had never existed in the first place. As if he had met his soulmate and didn’t even know it. How crazy would _that_ be? Maybe he met his beautiful desert reptile love in the quick passing of a 55 mph yellow school bus.

“I don’t understand,” Leo bumped into Jason who kept mumbling the words for some unknown reason. Leo slung his arm over his buddy’s black parka covered shoulder. The motion set off a tiny rush, or perhaps that came with the chance to further prank the kid.

Leo shook his head as if he wasn’t feeling completely on top of the world right now. “Neither do I, man, neither do I.”

**Author's Note:**

> so leos original timer would've counted to meeting jason in his original camp, around the time they meet percy at spqr... but obviously hera got in the way and as a result :/ leo's never met jason until that point haha (but he doesn't know that yet)
> 
> to be fair, jason's timer also went off but the dummy just woke up and is dealing with his amnesia so finding his soulmate is not any of his priority and adds to the confusion
> 
> i wonder how long until they realize lol


End file.
